In the field of LED illumination technology, a variety of products are on the market today. In order to provide an illumination solution for a given application, an installer selects one or more LED assemblies (each comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs)) as well as one or more LED drivers in order to drive the LEDs under appropriate electrical conditions. An LED assembly can also be referred to as an LED engine. In order to have an LED driver (an LED driver in general comprising a power converter for providing a supply power and a control unit for controlling the power converter and/or an LED fixture) drive a particular LED fixture under appropriate electrical conditions, such as LED current, duty cycle, color, maximum power dissipation, etc., the configuration of the LED driver is required.
Given the different types of LED assemblies and the different types of LED power supplies (or power converters), installation appears to be prone to errors, which may result in incorrect light output or even damaging of the LED fixture and/or the LED driver, due to exceeding a maximum current, maximum duty cycle, maximum power dissipation etc. of the LED fixture and/or the LED driver. Configuration of the LED driver may be performed usually by providing configuration parameters (expressed e.g. in the form of digital data) to it.
Whether due to a defective or invalid installation causing a light output which differs from a user's expectations, an incorrect configuration of the LED driver may result in additional cost, additional installation time, waste of valuable resources by damaging power supplies and/or LED assemblies, etc.
In addition, in known applications, the response of an LED assembly to an input signal (e.g. provided via a user interface) is predetermined, i.e. the control unit of the LED assembly being arranged to interpret an input signal in a certain way and control, based on the input signal, the power converter and/or the LED fixture in a certain way.
Such a predetermined behaviour of the control unit may however render the control unit unsuitable to adjust to changes implemented in e.g. the LED fixture, the power converter or the input signal or when a different response is required/desired by a user. In addition, such a predetermined behaviour may limit the application of the control unit in a dynamic environment e.g. to control an LED assembly having a modular product concept. Over the life-time of the control unit, it may be desirable or required to replace or upgrade certain components or modules of the LED assembly or (modular) lighting system that is being controlled. Such modules can e.g. comprise an LED or LED unit or a power converter.